Body Exaltations and the End of Land

Work from this series was shown in "Touching the Membrane" at Space Create Gallery in May 2016 alongside works by Raul De Nieves, Ektor Garcia and Keith Aguiar and at Dyeworks Gallery at Garner Arts Center in May 2017 as part of their Social Justice Art Fair.

I started making Body Exaltations and the End of Land in the summer of 2015. This work began as a series of photographs and is about trying to hold space for Queer bodies in celebration while the rare places we occupy are under constant threat from economic/environmental/patriarchal forces. There is a particular grief that is experienced every time an indoor place of Queer gathering shuts down. Outdoor places where one can be in the body are even more rare and Queer Beaches became an important environment for these portraits.

Since I began making this work the elections have happened. The Pulse nightclub shootings happened. The Ghostship fire happened. These events exacerbate the need for these safe spaces to be in the body in celebration as many have been left in a state of panic as bodies and spaces are under greater attack.